It's official: Dark Shadows returns as a film with Johnny Depp

And haven't we seen that drawing of Depp as Barn before? It looks awfully familiar...

It's very similar to a color drawing posted on page 70  that appeared in Film Fantasy:

...scan from the magazine (it's from one of its collector's editions called "Life Story")...

Thanks, Midnite.  

Wow - it's as if someone, perhaps even the actual artist, took the B&W version and photoshopped in the red highlights and photoshopped out the few wisps of hair across the forehead. Other than those things, the two drawings seem identical.

There were several articles posted on the internet today regarding the movie but no real updates. Here is one of them.

http://www.examiner.com/pop-culture-in-houston/will-johnny-depp-eclipse-robert-pattinson-as-worlds-most-popular-vampire

The article poses an interesting question. And considering that this week's Entertainment Weekly places Depp as #1 on its Most Powerful Entertainers list, almost anything is posible...

Here's another link to Depp's Dark Shadows, looks like shooting will be starting in February:

http://movies.ign.com/articles/112/1126279p1.html

Thursday's early morning NBC news had a headline about what Johnyy Depp would be doing after the Pirates movie, so I made sure to be listening to the entertainment section.  When she started by saying "remake," I was expecting Dark Shadows, but instead she said the "private detective classic 'The Thin Man.'"  So, I don't know if that's to be between Pirates and DS, after DS, instead of DS or what!

Depp's The Thin Man remake is only in the earliest stages of development. Several reports have said that they haven't even picked a screenwriter yet. 

Had no idea The Thin Man was being remade, will Burton direct this as well?

More importantly for the Thin Man series... Who will play the dog??

The NY Times updated its DS movie site to reflect that Burton's wife will be playing Dr. Julia Hoffman.  I have no idea if this is correct or what its source of information is but this was updated today I believe as it wasn't there a couple of days ago when I last checked.

http://movies.nytimes.com/movie/451864/Dark-Shadows/details

Interesting. And it could simply be an assumption on their part. Though one does wonder why they would have waited so long to post it if it's just an assumption?  

Even though Helena Bonham-Carter didn't think she'd be in the film, many fans suspected long ago that she could easily be cast as Julia. And there's always the fact that before a few weeks back there wasn't even an approved script. So, Burton may have not seen her in the role earlier but something about the script made him want her for the part. Or if she's read the script, something about the role may have appealed to her.

I suppose that before too long we'll officially find out whether or not she's been cast...


Thanks for the update, jimbo. 

Had no idea The Thin Man was being remade, will Burton direct this as well?

The report is that Johnny would like The Thin Man to be directed by Rob Marshall, who is currently directing Pirates 4 (he also directed Nine).  As MB says, I think this one is only in its earliest stages- they don't even have a scriptwriter for it yet- so it will be several years off.

Hmm, hadn't heard a peep about Helena as Dr. Hoffman.  For now, I'm going to assume that it's just speculation until/unless I hear it from Helena, Tim, or Johnny.  I'm dying for possible cast news, though  

Edited to add- just had a thought as I was posting... Helena may be doing interviews soon for Harry Potter, since that is coming out soon, so it'd be interesting if she might say something at that time.

As reported by Zap2it.com today:

"Christopher Nolan's third Batman film is titled "The Dark Knight Rises." As far as who the main villain will be, it's NOT the Riddler."

Gee, I wonder how many of the sites that continued to insist on reporting all the erroneous info that was going around a couple years back, even though WB, Nolan, Depp and who knows who else said it was completely fictitious will now be posting retractions and admitting they were duped. My guess - none.    But once again, it's just more proof that you can't always trust what you read on so many of those less than reputable Internet entertainment sites.

All this leads back to why I'm still a bit unsure as to whether we can completely count on an actual start time of February for the Depp/DS film. Like I've said, we have no way of knowing where deadline.com got that info because they didn't cite a source - and nearly every other site that's posted similar reports has cited deadline.com as their source. I just wish some sort of official announcement would be released. But in the three weeks since deadline's report we've gotten exactly nothing official, just as we got nothing official after they claimed back in July that the film was supposed to start in January...

I don't think I'll believe the Feb. start totally until it's reported in Variety or Hollywood Reporter, or comes from Johnny's or Tim's mouth.  That said, Nicki Finke, who runs deadline.com, is usually pretty accurate, and she has connections and gets a lot of inside info. 

In other words, Variety>>deadline.com>>Entertainment Weekly>>blogs or gossip mags.

keeping' my fingers crossed...

That said, Nicki Finke, who runs deadline.com, is usually pretty accurate, and she has connections and gets a lot of inside info.

I'm not really that familiar with deadline.com, so it's nice to hear the opinion of someone who is - and it's even nicer to hear that their info is pretty accurate. I'd still wish that they'd cite sources. But then, if a source is, say, an intern in a production company and not an actual producer, star, or even press representative, then it's fairly obvious why they're not cited as a source. And even though that wouldn't necessarily make their info any less accurate, like you -

I don't think I'll believe the Feb. start totally until it's reported in Variety or Hollywood Reporter, or comes from Johnny's or Tim's mouth.

 - I'll be much more willing to believe when something/someone like one of those sources says it's so.

keeping' my fingers crossed...

You and me both.    And if the February start is accurate, it's not like it should be months and months before it's announced. The film industry is hardly one where films with major stars like Depp are made in secret.    (But the longer that goes by without an announcement, the less likely it is. Though the time for firm doubts has certainly yet to arrive...)